Since my close encounter with a cottonmouth snake (below) I’ve been hyper aware of anything serpent related.
News stories about invasive snake species in south Florida interest me:
And I look for opportunities to learn more about snakes just in case there’s a next time.
This past weekend the Tallahassee Museum held an informative session for folks like me. Well, mainly for folks 12 and younger, but I didn’t let that stop me.
I listened earnestly and watched carefully. The most important thing I learned was to let snakes be. Leave them alone. Give them space. Don’t crowd them. If it’s a snake like my cottonmouth (aka water moccasin), don’t get between it and a body of water. Even if you’re positive the snake isn’t venomous, don’t pick it up. Non-venomous snakes can have nasty bites that might take months to heal.
If you’re bitten by a snake, stay calm. Try to snap a photo of it for identification purposes and then get to an emergency room. Don’t apply a tourniquet! That just exacerbates the injury.
Most of this wasn’t new information to me, but it never hurts to have a reminder. And, oh, the snakes were cool.
Look at these Banded Water Snakes
Note that the one on the right is digesting a big meal.
That’s an Eastern Indigo Snake above. These guys are endangered and non-venomous. I’m fairly certain that this is the type of snake we have living in our front garden area. Sure glad I saved him from the guys repairing our driveway!
Watch this guy, an Eastern Diamondback, who seemed as interested in us as we were in him.
This pretty guy below is a Gray Rat Snake. These are non-venomous and fairly common. They blend in perfectly with the bark of oak trees, so there’s no telling how many I pass right by every day.
So, I’m still no snake expert, but I did know the answer to one of the instructor’s questions when none of the other kids, I mean, participants did. She said that some snakes move in a concertina style and asked if anyone knew what a concertina was.
I played it cool,
But soon it was obvious no one else knew the answer, so it fell to me.
I didn’t get a gold star or anything, but that’s okay. Just knowing I was right was reward enough.
Peace, people!
Praying for Eyebrowz 
So what does concertina mean…inquiring minds want to know. Very wise to attend an information session and thanks for sharing what you learned.
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A concertina is sort of like an accordion, but without all the buttons and such. My grandparents called them squeeze boxes .
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There’s a blog I recently discovered called the Reptile Queen. I think she’s from South Africa. Very cool! She talks about snakes. She has a lot of insights about snakes. 🙂 I’m so glad I don’t live with snakes… lol
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Oh wow! I need to follow her! Thanks.
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I remember garter snakes from my childhood. We would see them everywhere. Haven’t seen one in years.
We just don’t see snakes up here unless at the zoo or reptile park. Our mountain hikers probably find some, and the eastern part of the state is dry prairie land so I think most are found over there. I’m relatively okay with that!
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I’m okay with snakes as long as they don’t surprise me. If I see one along the path I’ll just avoid it and all is well, no harm no foul. But if I am surprised by one, all bets are off. Curse words are said.
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I can relate. That’s me with spiders 🙂
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I feel the same about spiders! I kind of like them—as long as they aren’t biting me or someone I love.
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Same here. Snakes outdoors are okay, so long as they stay out of my path. My husband had to remove a snake from our living room the other day and I completely freaked out. Summertime in Florida!
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Whoa! That would freak me out! We get little lizards in the house now and again, but my ruthless cats take care of them in the most horrifying ways. I try to rescue them if I know there’s one inside, but the cats must have some lizarding sixth sense.
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That’s definitely one thing I miss about having cats! They took care of all the creepy crawlies in the house!
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I’d hate to see them have to deal with a snake, though! 😳
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Leslie? Totally impressed. And that piccie of you and these kids? AWESOME
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Oh, that’s not me! She was just the snake expert!
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Actually it was a really nice funeral in so far as these things can be. Our friends have lived abroad for …seriously years…everywhere you care you mention, although she has kind of hinted that now having no-one she will come back to live here where at least she has several old friends… like from school and uni… maybe once she’s sold up in Penang. I mean he wasn’t from here at all so I am guessing she is coming home.
Anyway I saw folks I had not seen for serious years… there were lots of people from down south who had known them in their time there, so there was quite a shindig after, so yeah. But there was also a lot of birling about Dundee and Angus. The funeral service was just down the road from where we live but not the other bits and since my Mr was asked to take a cord we couldn’t just bow out after the service as planned.
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Funerals are still draining emotionally. The family of my friend who died suddenly elected to have only a gathering limited to their family. And while I understand that, I feel a bit lost, not having gotten to say goodbye. I still need some closure. I’m trying to find other friends who might want to get together for a drink in Julie’s memory.
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Oh Leslie, I am so sorry. I saw your posts about that friend. It is so important to say goodbye . I hope you can get together with some folks and do just that. And I bet if you do, you will turn that into something xxxx
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I’m not much of an organizer! I’m fairly timid when it comes to putting together a gathering. Might have to put on my big girl panties and just do it.
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The other thing is we wouldn’t have friends if we didn’t want friends…unlike some family members. Our friend yesterday has had to cut her sister out of her life, so she had no family there yesterday at all. If it hadn’t been for her friends, his friends ..well…
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Oh mercy! That’s so sad. I’m glad y’all were there for her. We’ve moved so much that I fear no one except for family will come to my funeral. I think that’s what made me so sad about Julie’s “family only” memorial. She had SO many friends who wanted to pay tribute.
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Well these friends were kind of wanderers you know. But she always kept in touch with base camp.
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Hell I had had tiring and emotional day at a funeral… Actually, it was quite a day, At least I got the coffin right xxxxxx
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Sorry you had an emotional day. Hugs!
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oh and there were nae snakes..a piper but nae snakes….
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Leslie you can do this. Just have a wee word with who you think and then just get a night picked out and a place and just do it. Other folks will join in and say do you need help with whatever, and hell if you just end up having a toast and sharing a memory each and then having a damn fine friends’ evening after that, it’s fine. Get the big girl pants out of hiding. xxxxxxxxx
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😊
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That’s a fine idea.
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oh getting the big gal pants out is aye a fine idea…. x
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getting the big girl pants out is a fine idea… x
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Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes! 😀 I cannot abide them, and our cat, Twitch, loves to bring them home and show them to us! She lost one in the house (garter snake) and we couldn’t find it anywhere. Then our son was sitting on the floor playing a video game and his sock drawer was open a little. As he stared in disbelief, here came that little thing crawling out of the drawer. Scared the tar out of him. We never did figure out how it got in his dresser drawer.
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😳 “That’s just my pet snake Reggie.” So far, knock on wood, no snakes in the house. The venomous one I found coiled beside the garage door is still giving me nightmares, so I can’t imagine how I’d cope with finding one in the house!
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You do well to brush up your snakes
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Knowledge is power. Let’s hope I don’t have to wield it against any reptiles in the future.
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Wow. I’ve seen two snakes this year (Virginia). That’s after 20 years of not seeing any. One was white and brown and I think a “corn snake” from what I’d remembered. It was cold and I was wearing gloves so I grabbed it and threw it over the fence into the city lot next door. It was also small – under a foot. The fact that it was barely moving gave me the courage to do that, plus my wife HYPER hates snakes. Like if she knows about it, she won’t go near that part of the yard again – ever. As the snake was sailing over the fence all I could think was that it must have thought “WHAT THE HELL!”. I’ve never seen it again. A few weeks ago I saw this green and brown one at night. I ran to get a flashlight and it was gone when I got back. Considering the temperature was now in the 90’s, I doubt it will be moving slow. Probably a garter snake. For the record, I know absolutely nothing about snakes. I should probably find a local event for 12 year olds and attend.
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Crazy snake sightings! My husband hyper hates them, too. I always have to be the voice of reason—he’d kill them all.
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